Stair carpet nosing



April 959 I L. HYMAN 2,881,485

STAIR CARPET NOSING Filed Aug. 29, 1956 III! I 1 4 41 2 7 INVENTOR./

LED HYMHN HTTUENEY,

United. States Patent 2,sa1,4ss STAIR CARPET NOSING Leo Hyman, Brooklyn, NY.

Application August 29, 1956, Serial No. 606,826 1 Claim. (Cl. 20-79) This invention relates to a nosing or edging for a stair tread and particularly concerns a stair edging adapted to protect and hold ends of carpeting on stair nosings.

A particular problem encountered in the installation of carpeting on stairs in homes, hotels, motion picture houses, etc.', is the necessity of providing a stair edging which will protect carpeting from the very heavy wear encountered at the edges of the stairs. If carpeting is left unprotected it speedily wears through where it is turned over the nosing of the stairs. The principal object is to provide a safety means of non-skiddable nosing for stair carpeting, thereby eliminating the constant hazards of tripping and falling on stairs where normal carpeting is employed. Some non-metal flexible stair nosings have been proposed but these have not been successful, firstly because they were not designed to provide a level abutment to accommodate a necessary padding under the carpet. Also they have not been adapted to fit stair edges having different shapes, with greater or less overhang beyond the vertical risers. Also, they have not been conformable 'to core moldings under the overhanging stair edges.

It is a principal object of the present invention to overcome the difiiculties of prior known stair nosings by providing an extruded type of flexible stair edging.

It is a further object to provide a flexible stair edging and carpet holder provided with a ribbed ledge for securing the edge of a carpet thereon, and arranged so that a pad underlying the carpet may be placed in abutment with the ledge and in coplanar disposition with the surface of the ledge.

It is a further object to provide a flexible stair edging with a supplemental flexible wall or walls adapted to fit a stair edge ofany conventional shape. It; is a further object to provide a flexible stair edging of the character des cribed,'with walls' adapted to hold free edges of carpets on stair nosings.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claim in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a stair edging embodying the invention, mounted on a set of stairs and retaining edges of carpeting on a nosing thereof.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the stair edging.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the stair edging fitted to a stair and riser having a cove molding at a junction thereof.

Fig. 4 is a further perspective view of the stair edging fitted to a nosing before carpeting is installed.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the stair edging fitted to a stair, riser and cover molding in an alternative arrangement from that shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an end view of the edging fitted to a concrete stair.

edging.

Fig. 8 shows the stair edging of Fig. 7 installed on a stair and riser and holding carpeting in place thereon.

The invention will be described with particular reference to wooden stairs of the type having a tread and a vertical riser portion with a portion of the edge of the tread extending beyond the riser. The invention may also be used with stairs of the concrete type having rightangle corners as will be described in connection with one embodiment of the invention.

In Fig. 1 is shown a stair edging 10 embodying the invention. The edging has a thick forward upper tread section 11 which terminates at its rearward end in an oblique undercut wall 12 to provide a ledge 14. The ledge has longitudinal ridges 15 on its upper exposed surface. The forward wall section 16 depends from tread section 11. An underlying bottom wall 17 is disposed substantially perpendicular to wall section 16 and is parallel to tread section 11. Wall 18 extends vertically upwards from bottom wall. The edging 10 may be formed by extrusion from suitable tough, durable, resilient material such as natural or artificial rubber, vinyl copolymers, polyhaloethylenes, and the like.

In Fig. 1 carpeting 20 and pad 21 are shown fitted to ledge 14 and wall 15 on the stair edging 10. The edging is carried by stair tread 22 attached to risers 23, 24. Carpeting 26 on riser 24 extends upwardly from the carpeting 20' on lower stair tread 27 and from the upper end of pad 21'. The upper edge of carpeting 26 is held to the riser 24 by the wall 18 which extends into a slot 19 in the underside of the overhanging edge E of tread 22. Wall 18 is shown considerably shorter in Fig. 1' than it is in Fig. 2. This shortening of wall 18 may be accomplished in the initial extrusion of the stair edging, but preferably it is done by cutting the wall 18 to fit the slot 19 since it is a particular feature of the invention that the edging is adaptable to fit numerous types of stair configurations. It will be noted that one of the advantages of the invention is that a single extrusion of flexible material on an economical mass production basis results in a universally applicable stair edging.

The thickness of tread section 11 is such that it equals the combined thicknesses of carpet 20 and mat or pad 21. The thickness of ledge 14 is substantially equal to the mat 21 and the wall 12 rises above the ledge a distance substantially equal to the thickness of carpet 20. The forward edge of carpet 20 is wedged securely under or in wall 12, and ribs 15 assist in holding the forward edge of the carpet 20 in place. This arrangement allows for very rapid installation of the carpet 20 and pad 21 and yet permits the carpet and pad to be picked up for cleaning or repair whenever required without disturbing the edging 10.

In Fig. 3 a cove molding 31 is shown disposed at the joint of riser 24 and tread 22. Carpeting 26 is secured to riser 24 by a suitable cement layer 32. Bottom wall 17 of the edging 10 is cut short to fit against the forward edge of the molding 31. A layer of adhesive 30 underlies pad 21, ledge 14, tread section 11, forward wall 16, and bottom wall 17.

In Fig. 4 the edging 10 is secured to the tread 22 by screws 33 passing through holes 34 spaced at intervals along the ledge 14. The nosing and edging are shown in a typical installation where the foreshortened edge F of bottom wall 17 is disposed to retain the carpeting 26 which will be inserted in the space between edge F and the riser 24.

In Fig. 5 both the fiat head screws 33 and the cement layer 30 are used to secure the edging 10 to the tread 22. The wall 18 has been cut off from wall 17 and end F thereof fits into the curved concave outer wall of the 3 cove: molding 31. If desired, cement layer 36 may be usedto hold the end P to the molding but this will not generally be necessary since the body of the edging is naturally flexible and tends to press the end F into the molding. At. the same; time end P retains the upper edge of carpeting 26 against the riser 24.

- In; Fig. 6, a concrete step or stair 38 is shown in cross section- The stair has a tread surface 22 and a riser surface 24'; A layer 30 of suitable adhesive such as mastic or rubber cement holds mat 21, ledge 14, and tread section 11 to the tread surface 22'. Walls 17 and 18 have been cut off from wall 16 to provide a vertical wall surface urged by its inherent flexibility against riser surface 24' as indicated by arrow 40. Carpeting 16 is retained between wall 16 and riserv surface 24' and can easily be removed when desired by bending wall 16 outwardly. Carpeting 20 is wedged at its edge into the recess defined by the undercut Wall 12, and ribs 15 assist in holding the edge of carpeting 20 in place.

In Fig. 7 is shown a modification of the invention in which bottom wall 17 of the edging. is scored with mating grooves 41, 42 extending inwardly toward each other on both surfaces of the wall. Similar grooves 44, 45 are provided on opposite surfaces of wall 18. These grooves are provided to facilitate bending the walls 17 and 18 to conform with various irregular surfaces on stairs, molding, risers, carpeting, etc. These grooves further facilitate cutting or tearing the edging at various points to foreshorten the respective walls for various installations when required. Thus in Fig. 8 is shown how the edging readily conforms to the end E of the stair 22 to molding 31 and riser 14. Carpet 26 is held by the rearwardly biased downwardly bent wall 18. If desired, cement layer 30 may be used to hold the edging 10 in place. Ridges 47 are provided in the upper surface of tread section 11. These ridges serve as an anti-skid means on the edging.

The edging forms 10 and 10 are adapted to be extruded, in extended lengths and may be cut transversely to fit stairs of different lengths. If desired, the edging may be made white or in a color contrasting with the color of carpeting 20 and 26, and will serve as an attractive, safe edging for each step of the stairs. Although the material of the edging naturally has anti-skid tendencies, the ribbing 47 will increase this effect.

There has thus been provided a stair edging adapted to fabrication by economical mass production methods. The edging is easy to install and is both safe, durable, and convenient in use.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself tothe precise constructions herein disclosed and that various changes and modifications 4i may be made within the scope ofthe invention as defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my inventionfwhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent A stair edging adapted to be conformed to stair edges having different configurations, said edging comprising a straight resilient extruded member of extended length,

. said member having an upper fiat rectangular tread portion, said portion terminating. rearward-1y, in a straight edge forming a continuous undercut wall adapted to engage and hold an edge of a carpet, said" portion having a flat bottom surface adapted to conform, to the fiat upper surface of a stair tread, saidundercut wall terminating in a ledge having an upper ribbed surface extending rearwardly from said wall, said ribbed surface providing resilient means for frictionally gripping said carpet, said ledge having a thickness sufiicient to provide a space for a mat beneath said carpet, so that the; matand ledge support said carpet in. a coplanar arrangement, said tread portion having a thickness. about twice that of said ledge, a depending end wall having a minimum. thickness less that that of said tread portion integrally formed on the forward end of the tread portion, a. rearwardlyextending bottom wall having a thicknesssubstantially equal to that of said end wall integrally formed. at the lower edge thereof and extending parallel to saidupper tread portion, and a vertically disposed rear wallintegrally formed on the rear edge of. said bottom wall. and having a thick-- ness substantially equal to the minimum thickness of said end wall, said upper treadportion having a longitudinally ribbed surface providing an anti-skid means thereat, saidbottom wall and said rear wall each having a plurality of longitudinal grooves on opposite sides thereof, the grooves on the opposite sides extending toward each other to provide portionshaving lesser thickness than that of said bottom wall and of said rear wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 159,042 Robinson Jan. 26, 1875 606,532 Furness June 28, 1898 1,162,524 Staley et' al Nov. 30, 1915 1,512,592 Frood Oct. 21, 1924 1,630,858 Meyercord May 31, 1927 1,711,471 Curran Apr. 30, 1929 1,881,734 Lewis Oct. 11, 1932 2,205,044 Moore .J Tune, 18, 1940 2,274,765 Zalkind Mar. 3', 1942' 2,449,904 Lorraine Sept. 21, 1948 2,512,310 Corson j ,lun z'o, 1950 2,694,234 Roby 'Nov. 16, 1954 2,827,675 Nelson Mar. 25, 1958 

